Azzi Fudd goes No. 1
In the WNBA Draft, Azzi Fudd was selected No. 1 overall by the Dallas Wings during ESPN’s live broadcast presented by State Street Investment Management. (Social: ) The pick carried heavy anticipation across draft coverage and will put Fudd immediately into Dallas’s roster plans. (Social: )
Azzi Fudd went first in the 2026 Women’s National Basketball Association draft, with the Dallas Wings making the pick Monday night in New York. (wings.wnba.com) The draft was held April 13 at The Shed at Hudson Yards, and Dallas used the top selection on a 5-foot-11 guard from the University of Connecticut. The Wings announced the pick in a team release issued from New York. (wings.wnba.com) Fudd averaged 17.7 points per game in the 2025-26 season and earned All-America and All-Big East Conference honors before entering the draft. Her UConn bio also lists her on the 2025 national championship team and as the 2025 Final Four Most Outstanding Player. (fox7austin.com, uconnhuskies.com) Dallas had the No. 1 pick for the second straight year after taking Paige Bueckers first in 2025, which puts two recent UConn guards at the center of the Wings’ backcourt plans. The team’s current roster page lists Bueckers, Arike Ogunbowale, Maddy Siegrist and Aziaha James among the guards and wings already in place. (nbcdfw.com, wings.wnba.com) The pick also extends Connecticut’s history at the top of the draft. USA Today reported that Fudd became the seventh UConn player selected No. 1 in the Women’s National Basketball Association draft. (usatoday.com) Fudd’s path to this night was shaped by missed time as well as scoring. Her UConn career included knee injuries that sidelined her for long stretches in earlier seasons before she returned to anchor Connecticut’s 2025 title run and her 2025-26 All-America season. (uconnhuskies.com, usatoday.com) The rest of the top of the board underscored how guard-heavy this class was. The Associated Press draft tracker showed Olivia Miles went No. 2 to the Minnesota Lynx and Awa Fam Thiam went No. 3 after Dallas opened the night with Fudd. (apnews.com, wnba.com) For Dallas, the immediate question is how quickly Fudd’s shooting translates alongside Bueckers and Ogunbowale. The Wings used the first pick on a player they described as a sharpshooting guard, and now that bet moves from draft coverage to the roster. (wings.wnba.com)
